Sports Bio

I've been playing sports since I was 5 years old when my mom signed my brothers and I up for soccer to get us out of the house and give her some peace and quiet. Since then, I've played tons of different sports: football, tennis, baseball, golf, ice hockey, volleyball, track & field, skiing... well, you get the picture. I managed to be good enough at some of them to win some awards in high school and compete as a decathlete in college.

Shortly after college, I tore my ACL and followed that up with a back injury which put me on the sidelines for about 3 years and ended my beer-league hockey career. I'm now living in Belgium and playing baseball in my spare time.

I'll never forget the first football game I went to as a student at Ohio State. It was against Notre Dame and the atmosphere was electric. I couldn't believe the number of people tailgating and partying outside the stadium. And then when I got inside, I was stunned. A sea of Scarlet and Gray packed into the Horseshoe. Awesome.

Nadal wins 4th straight French Open in a rout.: Rafael Nadal put on a clinic against World #1 Roger Federer to match Bjorn Borg's record for consecutive victories at Roland Garros. He was so dominant, he felt he had to apologize to Federer for the result.

Firecracker tragedy halts Malha match:: During the match, with a minute and a half remaining in the contest, a fan standing above the Amir section in Malha threw the fire cracker onto the floor, prompting the guard to run, scoop up the explosive and jump on it to absorb the blast in front of the Holon bench.

Report: Peyton Manning Has Picked Broncos

Jose Reyes Pulls Self from Game, Wins NL Batting Title

Is this a troll? He was at .3995, so he would have finished at .400 and his manager offered to keep him out of the two meaningless games.

yerfatmama, I was not trolling. I know he was below .400 but it would have rounded up and he could have not played and gotten the mark. It was a question about what he would have done if his average was above .400 and he was given the option to sit out. I was not aware he played a double header on the last day of the season and could have sat out the second game to keep his average intact.

Jose Reyes Pulls Self from Game, Wins NL Batting Title

cixelsyd, he did not win "an award for quitting." He won the batting title, which if I'm not mistaken, is given to the player with the highest batting average for the entire season. He had enough at bats to qualify and it was a meaningless game, so why should he have done anything different? Had the Mets needed a win to get into the playoffs and he did that, then I could understand the bitching, but otherwise, it's just hand-wringing over nothing.

If Ted Williams was hitting .40001 heading into the final (meaningless) game, would he have played knowing it could possibly mean he wasn't going to finish with a .400 average?

Former Met Is First Player to Test Positive for H.G.H.

I was going to question the need to point out he's a former Met and then I saw it was the NY Times and figured they needed to tie it to NY in order for their local readers to care about it.

I have to say it's surprising he admitted to doing it. He could have tied it up in the appeals process for a long time and only have to deal with the "alleged HGH user" tag. It doesn't make it right for using HGH, but at least he didn't try to hind behind a bullshit excuse.

I think any arguments against trying to bunt for a hit are bunk. If the game's close, I'm doing whatever I can to help my team win. If I see the opposing defense playing back, I'll drop a bunt down and hope I reach safely - either by hit or error.

Illegal Swimmer Breaks Backstroke World Record

Breaking the water surface reduces the speed in swimming. The swimmers Daichi Suzuki (Japan) and David Berkoff (America) used this for the 100 m backstroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Berkoff swam 33 m of the first lane completely underwater using only a dolphin kick, far ahead of his competition. A sports commentator called this a Berkoff Blastoff. Suzuki, having practiced the underwater technique for 10 years, surfaced only a little bit earlier, winning the race in 55.05. At that time, this was not restricted by FINA backstroke rules. The backstroke rules were quickly changed in the same year by the FINA to ensure the health and safety of the swimmers, limiting the underwater phase after the start to ten meters, which was expanded to 15 m in 1991.

New overtime rules for playoffs start this weekend

I still think they should abandon the sudden death format of overtime. Play an extra quarter. If it's still tied, play another. If it's still tied after that, let the kickers decide it by starting at the 30 and moving back 5 yards until someone misses. If they both miss at the same spot, they both kick again from the same place. If they both miss again, move forward 5 yards. These wouldn't just be kicker and holder situations, either. It'd be a regulation play, the defense can try to block the kick. I'd even be open for the offense to run a fake, but they'd have to score a TD for it to count.

Bet I can. Bet you can't.

The Challenge: 30 swings each to hit a home run.

The field has a very short left field power alley (270 feet) and we were allowed to swing aluminum. (When I played with the club, we were in the top division and used wood.) I haven't hit a homerun since I was 12 years old and it was an accident. Did I mention this was a bar bet?